I knew Iowa would move up in the rankings after their win on Saturday; they demolished an opponent also ranked in the Top 20 and a handful of teams ahead of them also managed to get upset in a mildly topsy-turvy opening week for the 2021 season. That said, I didn't quite expect them to go all the way up to #10 in the new AP rankings, but...
The college football AP poll after Week 1
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 7, 2021
1. Alabama
2. Georgia
3. Ohio State
4. Oklahoma
5. Texas A&M
6. Clemson
7. Cincinnati
8. Notre Dame
9. Iowa State
10. Iowa
The full AP Top 25 is listed below:
| RANK | TEAM | POINTS |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (59) (1-0) | 1571 |
| 2 | Georgia (4) (1-0) | 1507 |
| 3 | Ohio State (1-0) | 1437 |
| 4 | Oklahoma (1-0) | 1374 |
| 5 | Texas A&M (1-0) | 1288 |
| 6 | Clemson (0-1) | 1231 |
| 7 | Cincinnati (1-0) | 1136 |
| 8 | Notre Dame (1-0) | 1070 |
| 9 | Iowa State (1-0) | 1045 |
| 10 | Iowa (1-0) | 942 |
| 11 | Penn State (1-0) | 908 |
| 12 | Oregon (1-0) | 883 |
| 13 | Florida (1-0) | 842 |
| 14 | USC (1-0) | 789 |
| 15 | Texas (1-0) | 683 |
| 16 | UCLA (2-0) | 668 |
| 17 | Coastal Carolina (1-0) | 384 |
| 18 | Wisconsin (0-1) | 376 |
| 19 | Virginia Tech (1-0) | 359 |
| 20 | Ole Miss (1-0) | 335 |
| 21 | Utah (1-0) | 334 |
| 22 | Miami (FL) (0-1) | 229 |
| 23 | Arizona State (1-0) | 222 |
| 24 | North Carolina (0-1) | 198 |
| 25 | Auburn (1-0) | 83 |
Iowa also made a move upward in the new Coaches Poll, landing at #12 in the new rankings.
| RANK | TEAM | REC | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alabama (64) | 1-0 | 1624 |
| 2 | Georgia (1) | 1-0 | 1537 |
| 3 | Ohio State | 1-0 | 1491 |
| 4 | Oklahoma | 1-0 | 1397 |
| 5 | Texas A&M | 1-0 | 1334 |
| 6 | Clemson | 0-1 | 1239 |
| 7 | Notre Dame | 1-0 | 1197 |
| 8 | Cincinnati | 1-0 | 1113 |
| 9 | Florida | 1-0 | 1058 |
| 10 | Iowa State | 1-0 | 1057 |
| 11 | Oregon | 1-0 | 920 |
| 12 | Iowa | 1-0 | 914 |
| 13 | Penn State | 1-0 | 872 |
| 14 | USC | 1-0 | 828 |
| 15 | Texas | 1-0 | 653 |
| 16 | UCLA | 2-0 | 538 |
| 17 | Wisconsin | 0-1 | 359 |
| 18 | Utah | 1-0 | 294 |
| 19 | Coastal Carolina | 1-0 | 289 |
| 20 | Ole Miss | 1-0 | 285 |
| 21 | Virginia Tech | 1-0 | 274 |
| 22 | North Carolina | 0-1 | 252 |
| 23 | Oklahoma State | 1-0 | 243 |
| 24 | Miami (FL) | 0-1 | 185 |
| 25 | Arizona State | 1-0 | 181 |
The new rankings set up a CyHawk game on Saturday that is not just a game between two ranked teams (for the first time ever) but a Top Ten game. Less than a decade ago, Iowa and Iowa State played a game that ended 9-6 and both teams combined to go 10-15 that season. Suffice to say the trajectory of both programs has improved just a bit since that forgettable 2012 campaign.
This is only the second time ever that Iowa State has been ranked heading into an Iowa-Iowa State game; the first came in 1978, when they were ranked #20. Iowa has been ranked heading into 13 previous CyHawk games, most recently in 2019 when they were ranked #19. Both teams have done well when ranked entering the game; Iowa State is, er, 1-0, having won that 1978 game 31-0, while is 12-1 as a ranked team in the series, with the only loss coming in 2005.
Rankings this early in the season don't mean much in terms of teams' actual quality -- there are three 0-1 teams in this ranking, after all -- but they speak volumes about the expectations associated with those teams. The CyHawk game has never seen a stage like this, nor has it ever featured two teams with expectations as lofty as these teams possess. Let's see which team gets to make a bit more history on Saturday and whose expectations for the season will be dented.
